Chapter 61 (12/3/16)

Hi all, I'm very sorry for the delay.  I've been having a bit of writer's block, along with being crazy busy with work.  I will try very hard to not let another month pass between posts, yikes!  Thank you all for your patience!

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Ryan and I wandered a little more, then on the way back we stopped at the grocery store to pick up some things so we could make dinner together later.  After the grocery store, we swung by my house so I could grab some different clothes.  By the time we got back to Ryan’s house, he was yawning.  “The first day or two that I’m back are rough,” he said apologetically.  “I’m all sorts of thrown off.”

Ryan crawled back into bed to take a nap while I showered and put on the change of clothes I’d picked up.  When I was done in the shower, I tried to pass through Ryan’s room silently to go downstairs and entertain myself for awhile so he could sleep.  Apparently I failed.  “Come lay with me,” he requested sleepily when I was about even with the bed. 

“Are you sure?” I asked quietly.  “I don’t want to keep you awake.”

“Yes,” he replied.  To prove his point, he lifted the blankets up, giving me a place to scoot in.  I tugged my jeans off and slipped into bed next to him, sighing happily when he wrapped his arms around me.  “Better,” he said before burying his face against my neck.  And then, “You smell clean.”

“That’s because I am clean,” I replied with a chuckle.  “I just spent 15 minutes in your shower.”

“15 minutes?” he muttered.  “Why do women take so long in the shower?”

“Because we have hair to wash and condition,” I retorted.

He snorted.  “I have hair.  I don’t take 15 minutes.”

“You know what I meant,” I said, rolling my eyes even though he couldn’t see them.  “Shhh, you’re tired.  Go to sleep.”

“You care so much about my well-being,” he replied, chuckling.  Then he yawned, and I smiled smugly to myself.  “I can see that look,” he said to the back of my neck, making me laugh.

Eventually he settled down and dozed off.  I surprised myself by also falling asleep.  We spent most of the afternoon napping and then laying in bed talking.  The only reason we eventually got up was because Ryan was hungry. 

“Are you a kitchen control freak?” I asked him teasingly as we got stuff out of the fridge to make the pork chops we’d bought. 

“I have no idea,” he responded seriously.  “I’ve never cooked with someone else before.” 

“Wait, really?” I asked, surprised.  “Never?”

He shrugged.  “I mean, probably with my mom when I was younger, but that’s it.  I was never married, remember?  I’ve never lived with anyone, I haven’t had a lot of opportunities to cook with someone as an adult.”

As it turned out, he wasn’t even a little bit of a kitchen control freak.  We worked well together in the kitchen.  I leaned against the counter and watched Ryan as he finished up the pork chops.  “What?” he asked, giving me a weird look when he caught me watching him.

“I like watching you cook,” I replied, shrugging.  “It’s sexy.”

“It’s sexy?” he chuckled.

“Yes!” I said defensively.  “It is.  You make it all look so easy, and there’s just something really attractive about a man who is cooking dinner for me.”

“You helped,” he pointed out.  But he grinned and kissed me softly on the lips, then on the forehead.  My heart rate picked up a little and I grinned back at him.  “And I guess I can see that because you looked pretty cute chopping those onions.”

I stood on my tiptoes and tipped my head up so he could kiss me again.  My hands moved on their own, one wrapping around the back of his neck and the other fisting in his shirt.  We kissed for several seconds before Ryan finally pulled away.  “Well, as much as I’d like to continue that, I need food.”

“Right, food,” I said, smoothing my shirt out and tucking a piece of hair behind my ear.  “Food is good.”

Ryan laughed.  “You’re so cute when you get all flustered,” he said gently, reaching past me to open a cabinet and pull out some plates.

“I’m not flustered!” I exclaimed.  I turned to grab a plate for myself and hit my head on the still-open cabinet door.  “Ow!”

“Not flustered huh?” Ryan asked, gently guiding my head out of the way and closing the cabinet door.  “Let me see.” 

“I’m fine,” I said, wincing as he gently tipped my chin up and inspected my forehead. 

“I don’t think it’s going to bruise,” he responded. He pressed his lips gently to my forehead next to the spot that had bounced off the cabinet door.  “Do you want some ice?”

“No,” I grumbled.  “I just want to eat.”  He looked at me carefully and then nodded, picking the plates up off the counter.  With his back to me, he snickered quietly.  “Did you just…laugh at me?” I demanded indignantly.

“Yes,” he said, trying to keep a straight face as the corners of his lips fought his efforts.

“Rude!” I said, turning red.  I glared at him for several seconds before bursting into laughter myself.  Relieved, Ryan stopped fighting his grin and laughed with me.

“Look, I’m sorry, but as long as you’re not hurt, that was really funny.”

“You’re lucky I like you,” I informed him once I had caught my breath.

He gasped in mock surprise.  “You like me?” he asked.  “That’s the nicest, most feelingsest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“’Feelingsest’ isn’t a word,” I replied, rolling my eyes. 

“I like you too, Jenna,” he said, grinning and putting a pork chop and some roasted potatoes on my plate.  “It’s okay, you can change the subject.  I know you will anyway,” he said.

“Just for that, I won’t!” I declared.  “I can sit here and talk to you all night about how much I like you.”

“I’m listening…”

I blushed slightly.  “I’m hungry,” I said.

Ryan laughed and shook his head.  “Well, then I guess we should eat.”

“I guess we should,” I agreed.  We took our plates to the island and sat down.  I looked up shyly and said, “I do like you though.  Kind of a lot.”  Then I looked back down at my plate.  When I looked up again, Ryan smiled at me.  I smiled back and happily returned to my food.